Helix 5.3.1 Fixes TCP/IP Disconnect Bug

31 January 2005When we set out to do Helix 6 back in December of 2002, we laid out two separate but vital projects that had to be part of Helix in macOS. First, Helix needed to conduct its activity over TCP/IP at least as well as it did on AppleTalk. And Helix needed the ability to handle collections larger than 2 GBytes.

A problem that surfaced in the new TCP/IP code after the release of Helix 5.3 has now been fixed, and we are pleased to announce the immediate availability of Helix 5.3.1, which officially takes the place of Helix 5.3 as the current supported release of Helix with this announcement.

For the vast majority of you who are not experiencing this bug, here’s what it was all about: in some situations, when a Helix Client crashed, the Helix Server it was connected to did not realize it was no longer connected and would continue to maintain the connection indefinitely. As a result, user icons that were set to allow only 1 login per username would be locked out of the collection, as the Server falsely believed that user was still logged in. This bug could also result in the Server wrongly preventing users from logging in on the grounds that the concurrent Client license would be exceeded.

This release also includes other minor fixes, and we are encouraging all customers currently using Helix 5.3 to upgrade to this version. The same Serial Number and Key you received for version 5.3 will enable 5.3.1.

The update is available as a full download, and as a patch program that will update your already installed and configured Helix applications. Details on this release and how to download it are found on the Helix 5.3 product page.

Over the next several weeks, we will be focused on the completion of the structural revisions to Helix that will enable it to create and use files larger than 2 GBytes. That code, when through the complete cycle, will tentatively be released as Helix 5.3.2 and is the final piece of work required before we can turn our full attention to testing Helix 6 Server.

Update: after integrating the code changes required to break the 2 GB limit, we found ourselves at a crossroads, and it is now evident that the effort required to fully test this code apart from the Helix 6 testing is not economically feasible. Consequently, we have abandoned the plan to release a version of Helix 5 with the 2 GB code and are moving forward with Helix 6 testing.